Raymond Wintz French, 1884-1956

Celebrated as a “painter of light”, Joseph Raymond Wintz was regarded as one of the leading artists working in France in the early twentieth century. Born in Paris in 1884, he trained at the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs and the École des Beaux-Arts under Jules Adler and Gabriel Ferrier. Rejecting academic convention, he embraced painting en plein air, developing a fluent technique suited to capturing changing light and atmosphere.

Wintz is best known for his views of the Brittany coastline and for his distinctive window and balcony scenes, in which interior and exterior space are combined within a single composition. These works often centre on a simple foreground motif - such as a vase of flowers - framing sunlit harbours, passing figures and distant sails beyond. He divided his time between Paris and Brittany, and was active within the artistic milieu of Montparnasse. Exhibiting regularly at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1910, Wintz received major honours including the Silver Medal (1922), Gold Medal and Corot Prize (1924), and was later appointed Professor at the Académie Julian. His work is held in museum collections internationally, and he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in recognition of his contribution to French painting.